Even the Strongest
by Darktayle
Summary: Under the right circumstances, no one is infallible. Even the strongest can break. When the unthinkable happens, and Toph is very much broken, those around her are left with the daunting task of picking up the pieces. Tokka.mature concepts. post finale
1. In the Beginning

_This will probably have been the darkest story I've published with this account- there's gonna be angst. Lots of it. Tons of mental trauma, all that lovely stuff. I'm rating it as M, because some of the things won't be sugar coated._

_-_

_This world will never be_

_What I expected_

_And if I don't belong_

_Who would have guessed it_

_-Never Too Late, Three Days Grace_

_-_

It had been strange to see it end. Sokka, Katara, Aang, Toph, and Zuko had all united in the name of a lost balance, of a question that needed to be answered. They'd fought, they'd bonded, they'd grown. They had a purpose. Defeat the Fire Lord. Restore peace. It sure as hell wasn't simple, and the road to fulfilling that purpose was like a wild animal; feral and unpredictable, and in its presence it was best to be wary.

There had been Aang, and Katara, and the unstable totters that their relationship had travelled. Now, it was for the better. They were together, they were happy.

There had been silence, there had been hiding. Not all things turned out as well as they did for Aang. Take Sokka- first love, dead to the moon. His first real date, broken up with on mutual decision. They'd never really loved each other, and the distance proved too much for their fragile alliance. But the third....the one that he'd probably loved as long as he'd known her. She was dangerous. She was brash. She was the last person he'd expected himself to fall in love with. But he did, and all he knew was that it had been that way for months. While he held his liaisons with Suki, they were reluctant, because it wasn't real.

She was dangerous, this love of his. She was strong. And that was why he could never tell her. She'd never shown any sign of reciprocation, none at all. And, like a challenge he had no chance of winning, he refused to face it, because he would lose.

Then there was Toph. The powerful, the infallible. Rough around the edges, but human to the core. Like humans, she felt. Like humans, she loved. Like humans, she was aware that that love could make her or break her. Normally, she'd charge into the situation head on. Like a true earthbender. But this time....this time, she was ashamed to admit that her tactics were ridiculously air-ish. Avoid, evade. Airbender tactic. _Not_ an earthbender tactic. It made her furious that one person could so easily make her feel, make her feel pain and make her happy. That this person could break down who she knew she was, to where she had no confidence at all. A sheep in wolf's clothing.

Zuko was happy enough. He had his girl, and he seldom travelled with them now, because he was the Fire Lord.

And there, there lay the core of the problem.

_It was over._ The conflict had ended. That purpose- that spanning, uniting purpose- it was complete, and gone, and suddenly there was nothing to strive for. Nothing to move for.

At least, not at first. The Gaang had stayed at Iroh's tea shop for a well needed rest for a while, until Zuko's new duties demand he return. They pretty much just hovered about after that, making up plans on the fly with no real destination in mind.

Then, there was a problem. There was a number of people in the fire nation dissatisfied- they believed they had the right to rule and destroy, and they were furious at how everything had broken down. They grouped. They had their own cause. They became known as The Resistance.

It was currently unknown as to what their motives were. Suspicious strangers would be seen skulking around town, apparently looking for something, then; whether they found what they were looking for or not, they would attack. Often the most prestigious in the area, to scar the town.

Suddenly, there was purpose again.

The Fearsome Foursome. Just them. It was....better that way. Making no mistakes, Zuko was a part of their family, but he was new. It took a while for things to truly be forgiven.

Currently, Katara was running away from the village she'd gone to buy supplies in pellmell, pursued by adoring fans. One irksome thing about being famous was that everyone was looking for you. If you showed your face, the news would spread like wildfire and suddenly half the country would know.

The Resistance hadn't shown themselves for a while; as far as information confirmed, they were lying low.

So, Toph took that as an indication to tie up some loose ends.

"Guys." She said, quite abruptly. "I....need to visit my family. I need to face them." Sensing (it wasn't really that hard, they were all predictable idiots) their surprised faces, she hastened to continue. "Don't get any ideas, I'm not staying with 'em. I just need to....cut it clean, I suppose."

Aang blinked, then smiled. "I understand. We'll drop you off at Gao Lin, kay? When should we pick you up?"

Toph thought. "Eh....a week should be enough. That alright?"

Katara nodded. She planned everything. "Should be. Take Hawky, just in case something comes up." the messenger hawks had sort of become an unofficial postal society, extending to much of the globe. They were trying so breed them to sustain Water Tribe temperatures now.

"Alright then." Aang agreed. "Just so you know, if you aren't there when we go to pick you up, we're gonna panic. 'Kay?"

"Sure, sure." Toph waved him off. "So, Sugar Queen, you actually get any food before that screaming gaggle of fans went batshit?"

"Basic groceries." Katara shrugged. "I'd wanted to get some of that fruit...but...well, fans happen."

"Fans happen, and when they do, scream like a little girl and run away." Sokka nodded sagely.

"What's wrong with girls?" Sokka suddenly found himself face to face with one angry sister and one angry Toph. Oh sh-

Aang, with his utimate cosmic peacemaker abilities, set an end to the argument before it even began.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Toph, almost nervously (notice the 'almost'- she did not get nervous), made her way to the Bei Fong house. She could feel the vibrations of men- most likely guards or servants- at the entrance, unmoving. Probably guards. She stood before one, and spoke in a clear voice.

"Let me in. I need to see my parents."

Naturally, being blind, she couldn't see the man's eyes widen, but could feel his heartbeat escalate dramatically.

"Miss Bei Fong!" One exclaimed, closely followed by the other. Both were speechless for a few seconds, then one stampeded into the house while the other stared at her, seemingly verifying that she was, in fact, there and real. It wasn't long after that Poppy sauntered out with her husband, pulses skyrocketing.

"Toph!" Poppy squealed, encasing her daughter in a gargantuan hug.

For a moment, she was confused. "You're not mad at me?"

"Mad? Mad? Why would we be? You've come home!" A very large crowd was gathering, pointing and whispering.

_"Hey- isn't that the Blind Bandit?"_

_"No, you twit! That's Toph Beifong! The missing daughter!"_

_"You're all idiots! She's both those people- plus the Toph that travels with the Avatar."_

_"The Avatar?! He's not around....you suppose something happened?"_

_"Nah, I'd say she's just taking a break or something. Otherwise-"_ She tuned out their senseless ramblings, and hastened to correct her mother.

"Mom, I'm just visiting. I won't be here for long." The woman looked stricken, then softened.

"Alright, dear. Just come in- we've redecorated the home again."

"_Again?_ Wasn't eight times enough?"

"Of course not. Come on." She followed her husband indoors, and Toph gave a squawk of indignation the second her feet touched the ground inside.

"_Wood? _You made it _wooden?"_

"It insulates better. Why not?"

"I can't bend wood! I can't even feel any vibrations from it! I can't even find my way around!"

"Is that so? Don't worry, we'll help you around."

Toph fumed. She was already regretting this.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

There were disadvantages to fame. Word of you spread like wildfire, and before you knew it, half the nation knew where you were. It was okay if you were an egostical prat. That way it was a good thing. Unfortunately for Toph, she was not an egostical prat, and was quickly becoming highly irked by the crowds flocking outside the home all the time. Some of them managed to even sneak into the garden- where she spent most of her time, due to the fact it actually had earth.

It was well orchestrated. There would be no suspicion- after all, who is suspicious when someone else delivers tea than the usual person, and a day late? Who is suspicious when a servant wishes to help in the kitchens?

There were disadvantages to fame.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ugh." Toph wrinkled her nose. "This tea is so bitter...." She felt around in the stone table for the sugar's location, then reached for it, dumping a hefty amount into her tea. She stirred it quietly for a while, dinner already being digested, and a nice hot cup of tea to wash it down. She sipped it again. "Ah, much better." She sat at the table for a while, listening to her parents' idle chatter, then yawned. It drew the attention of her mother.

"Are you tired?" She inquired, sipping her own tea and wondering why Toph's had been bitter, and needed so much sugar. Hers hadn't. It had been fine.

Toph blinked- even if she was blind, she did have eyes- and yawned again. "Sorta. Dunno why- I was fine a minute ago."

"Maybe you should go to bed, dear?" Poppy suggested.

"Nah, I just feel a little-" She swayed, then caught herself, rubbing her forehead, in which a mild ache was showing itself. "'kay, maybe I should." She sighed. "Night. Oi, Hja!" The servant jumped, and got to his duty of leading the blind girl around.

Toph would sleep easily that night. Perhaps it was luck that she used so much sugar, and dampened the effect of the drug. She didn't think so. Toph didn't believe in luck.

May it be or not, when the Resistance came for her, she would not be in the deep slumber they expected. Instead, she put up a fight as if a drunkard had tried martial arts. She caused considerable damage to the property, rather than her attackers, due to her unfortunate blindness and the unfortunate woodeness of the house.

When the servant came to wake her in the morning, he would find nothing. Frenzied, the entire town would be searched. But there would be nothing. When there was still nothing, Toph's parents sent off a letter via the messenger hawk to the Avatar. A letter of desperate plea.

_Dear Avatar, and whom else it may concern,_

_Toph was taken in the night, and she is no where to be found. We have searched everywhere.....and now, from the sightings of strangers around town, we think it must be the Resistance. Please, don't allow her to remain in the custody of these fiends. Find her, Avatar!_

_With desperation,_

_The house of Beifong_

And so the search began.


	2. Sacrifice

_It's a thief in the night_

_To come and grab you_

_It can creep up inside you_

_And consume you_

_A disease of the mind_

_It can control you_

_It's too close for comfort_

_-Disturbia, Rihanna_

A day passed.

Then two.

Three, four...

The days were ever longer, and it was taking far too long.

After four of fruitless poking around, searching and questioning, they decided to resort to means which were not very well thought through. It was known that the bounty hunter Jun and her 'pet' Nyla usually were located around Earth Kingdom taverns, but searching through those taverns was tedious buisness. Still, it was their only lead, there was nothing else to turn to.

After another week and eighty-two taverns (a great many rather isolated and difficult to find), they found her. Going haywire as always. Upon seeing the familiar faces, she smirked.

"Well, well, you're not very good at keeping track of people, are you?" She drawled, shooing all the men away and walking up to them. "So, who've you lost this time?"

Sokka's jaw clenched, and he extracted one of Toph's shoes- even though they were thin enough for her to 'see' through, she still only wore them when necessary. So they were kept stored away. "Toph." Perhaps out of all of them there, Sokka suffered the most from this new development. Aang was guilty for allowing Toph to go, as was Katara, and so was Sokka. But Sokka was guilty for not going with her. For not being there to protect her.

Jun took the shoe with a mild grimace, then headed outside with her new companions in tail. The nirshu looked up sharply at her approach and snuffled a little, making and odd shrieking noise. "Here girl, take a sniff of this." Nyla did, and once catching the scent, began breathing deeply and loudly around, taking in scents and sifting for the right one. With a triumphant screech, she'd found it, and the divided Gaang were given the brest seconds to mount Appa and follow her.

The ridiculously fast and powerful creature led them across Earth country, past Gao Ling, and stopped near an area of very large hills. "Well?" Katara demanded, and Appa hovered uncertainly near the ground.

"You friend's here somewhere." Jun clarified, inspecting the hills. "My guess is that it's hidden. Judging by Nyla....probably in that hill." She nodded to one on her left. "We need to be going now." She paused. "And just for your information, Nyla's having babies. In around eight months, I should have them trained, if you're interested in getting your own instead of mooning after mine all the time." Then she and her creature sped off.

Appa landed, and all of his passengers dismounted, turning to the hill. Aang concentrated, extending his Earthbending to the hill, using the sense of what he could bend and what he couldn't. Suddenly, his sense came to a halt. There was something there- a big something- which could not be bent. Not by how he knew, anyway. Toph had taught him Metalbending, so it wasn't metal. Probably wood. That would explain why Toph hadn't been able to escape.

"There's something in there." He nodded to the hill in question. "Probably made of wood. I'll excavate it, and we'll see what's left after that.

With that, giant chunks of earth tore from the hill and hurled themselves away, revealing a flat and muddied vertical surface. With rapid work, a distinctly cube shaped building revealed itself, probably two story at the most. After the earth cranked away to reveal an entrance....they were assaulted by men in the dark blood red robes that symbolized the Resistance. Blood red with bright red fire marks on them.

By the spirits, there were a lot of the bastards.

Katara proceeded to extract water from the nearby stream and use it to blitz the attackers with sharp darts, hitting them in the hands and feet so the pain stopped them from doing anything. If they persisted, at the joints, so they couldn't move. Sokka, in the angriest haze anyone had seen him, ripped through his enemies with his stances of swordplay, trusty meteorite weapon wet with firebender blood.

And Aang pretty much whacked them around the head with giant rocks.

"Fucking bastards," Sokka snarled, spitting blood onto the grass. The enemies were no more- or at least the ones that had shown themselves. There had to be at least thirty- an impressive number. Much of their bulk had to be located here.

Suddenly, without warning, a great number of eelhounds mounted by the Resistance spewed from the building, fleeing into the distance. Katara shot some of them down, but eelhounds are _fast_. There was only so much she could do.

"They abandoned base." Aang observed, speaking slowly. "That measn they didn't expect to be able to beat us. So capturing Toph had to have a quick purpose in mind- something that could be carried out before we found them."

"Like....like what?" Sokka asked tentatively, wiping his sword on the grass.

Aang's face hardened, as did Katara's. "Probably information. Our weaknesses, that crap. Or...." He hesitated.

"Or?" Sokka prompted, truly worried. He began making his way to the entrance, followed by just as cautious teammates.

"Or," Katara put in. "They intended to break us apart."

Sokka's fists clenched as his expression crawled with anger. "Come on. We need to go save her." Soon after he spoke, they made for the building faster than was probably safe, as was revealed when Aang stepped in and was greeted by a nice booby trap of falling spines, which he barely deflected with his airbending.

"Maybe we should be more careful." Aang suggested, and cast an air field around them all, which deflected the weapons as they attacked. kept away the occasional poison gas too. They had not wanted this base to be found- at least by people that wouldn't be capable of evading the traps.

Room after room they checked, to find nothing but hastily abandoned beds, some things forgotten in the drawers. One bedroom in particular was very disturbing, as there was an open cabinet of vicious looking tools- some of which looked recently used. Momo chattered distressedly, looking around as if disoriented. The building itself was very dark, and made almost entirely of wood. there were some metal parts- like those heavy looking metal things dangling from the ceilling....

Aang frowned. "Why is there metal hanging from the ceilling?" Everyone looked up, and indeed, there was metal hanging from the ceilling.

"There has to be something in that room." Katara mused. "Come on, let's check it out." She made to move out of the door, and Sokka followed suit, but Aang halted them with a 'stop' gesture of his hand.

"Look more closely, guys." He said quietly, voice ringing in the dark room. "There's a trap door there. Look." He gestured to an area in the corner, where a ladder sat innocently, yet too suspicious for a bedroom. Directly above it was a lightly discoloured patch of wood, and when you looked closer, the mark of a hidden entrance was clear. Katara blinked, and moved over swiftly.

"Good work, Aang." She praised, inspecting the ladder and then the trap door. "Hold this ladder for me, will you?" Without words, he did exactly that.

"Be careful." Sokka warned, as Katara scrabbled at the ceilling, until part of it flopped away to reveal a hidden handle.

"Whatever's in there, they wanted to hide." Aang remarked, watching closely. Katara didn't reply, she merely pulled the trapdoor down, and wrinkled her nose upon doing so.

"It's so stuffy!" She hissed. "And smells....smells like.....is that blood?" Her eyes widened.

Aang Airbended a waft towards him, and sniffed. "It is." He agreed. "This...." He swallowed. "This could be her."

Sokka stiffened, and moved closer to the ladder, not attempting to climb it while his sister was on.

Katara poked her head in, then removed it and called to Sokka. "pass me the candle, will you? I can't see a thing."

"What about our light?" Aang asked, frowning.

"Firebend something." She replied, taking the candle from her brother. "Thanks." She moved back into the hidden room, this time with a light, and froze. "Oh _god."_ She breathed.

"What? What is it?" Sokka demanded, a sick feeling clenching in his chest from her tone.

".....Stay here, guys. You shouldn't see this."

"But-"

"Stay!" Quailing, both warriors obeyed, while casting each other worried looks as Katara elevated herself into the room.

Katara moved slowly, quietly, unable to take her eyes from the figure in front of her. Feeling her worst thoughts and dearest dreams be fulfilled in unison, silently, she tried to accept what was there.

It _was_ Toph. She _was_ here. But....spirits, was she alive? Was she dead?

She was fastened against the cold, hard floor by shackles of the toughest wood, weighed down by metal too far away for her to bend. Katara watched closely, and confirmed with relief that she was breathed- unevenly, shakily- but she breathed. So, either asleep or unconscious. She favoured unconscious.

Toph....was not a pretty sight. Her hair was down, messy and matted with old blood against the ground. She wore no clothing at all- all of it in a pile in the corner, looking as if they who'd removed it hadn't bothered to unshackle her to take it off, therfore ripping it quite substantially, but minor enough that it could still provide some form of coverage. Her body was covered in bruises and abrasions, and cuts had had healed badly and obviously infected. Her neck was grazed in a full circle around it, looking raw and burned with little bits of skin detatched. Something had probably been used to choke her. The most shocking wounds were well-placed slits across her wrists- probably because of the traumatizing effects- and a giant gash on her collarbone, which seemed to have painted the area red. Her fingernails had dried blood under them, and the skin surrounding was swollen and puffy, signs of particularly painful types of torture. Obviously, she had not slept well for a long time, and there were dark circles beneath her closed eyes. Her breathing seemed too erratic for her to be asleep.

Katara bit her lip, and forced herself to calm down. Then, spontaneously, she slid into the quiet and serious persona of a healer. Fleet and graceful, she moved over to her fallen friend, and shook her gently on the arm. The slightest touch proved enough, because instantly the poor girl's eyes flew open, and she began writhing as best she could in shackles.

"Let me _go! _Get- get away! _Get away from me!"_ She screeched, voice hoarse and dulled, and Katara knew with a sinking feeling it was probably that way because of extended screaming.

"Toph-" Katara was cut off as Toph somehow kneed her, even with the outstanding restriction placed upon her. "Toph! Calm down- it's me." Toph's struggles dulled to nothing slowly, and her eyes were wide.

"K-Katara?" She asked in a small voice. It was unlike anything she'd ever heard from the girl, and it scared her. No, scared was the wrong word. It _horrified _her. Toph was supposed to be unbreakable. the fact that she had lain here- hysterical and _broken_- meant that unspeakable things must have been done to her.

"Yeah, Toph. It's me." She replied softly, watching with distress as Toph sagged, relaxing in some morbid kind of sick relief. "Sit still a second- I'll cut you out of these shackles." She extracted some water from her casket, and molded it into a condensed blade, hard as metal and just as sharp. She cut through the wood easily, and Toph responded immediately by hugging her legs to her chest, sitting up and huddling into a small bundle. Loud popping sounds made as she moved, evidence of how long she'd laid there. It was surprising that she could even move. "Come on- I'll help you get into your clothes and then we'll get you out of here."

Toph gave a small, near imperceptible nod. Katara gave the girl's shoulder a reassuring rub, but it only seemed to make her tense more. Sighing, she began to move to the clothe bundle, when she recieved feedback from below.

"Katara! What's happening? Did you find her?" It was Sokka's voice, sounding almost desperate. Katara paused, and changed direction to move to the trapdoor, sticking her head down to report. Their faces were attentive with anticipation- they'd heard something of Toph's outburst, just not enough.

"Yeah, I found her." She quickly halted the onslaught of questions that would have followed, and pushed Aang away from where he'd attempted to slink around her and into the room. "Shut up and wait. Toph....isn't presentable."

"Isn't presentable?" Sokka demanded, panic flaring in his chest. "What does that mean?"

"She's our friend too, Katara." Aang told her quietly.

"I know she is!" Katara snapped, scowling. "But there are two genders, and for the sake of dignity you are not allowed in yet." She vanished into the dimly lit darkness again, murmuring something supposedly to Toph that they couldn't hear.

Katara gathered the bundle from the corner and swept it over to Toph. As the louder of her footsteps sounded, Toph jolted and cringed a little.

"Don't sneak up on me." Toph requested, voice barely a whisper. "I can't feel any vibrations. I can't feel you coming."

"Alright." Katara allowed, voice soft and warm and motherly, because that was the best she could do for Toph right now. "Here, help me get these on." They worked together to get Toph into her underwear, then her torn but still usable clothes. Toph looked unimaginably thankful to be covered up, but was eerily quiet in comparison to every memory Katara had of her. It was not a nice feeling. "Is it okay to let the others in now?" Toph didn't reply, and Katara was about to repeat her question when she spoke.

"Who is it?"

"Sokka and Aang." Katara answered shortly, watching as Toph nodded slowly and weakly with approval. She gave her own nod in response, then turned into the trapdoor again. "You can come in now, and step heavily so Toph knows where you are."

They were up the ladder astonishingly fast, and stared wide-eyed at the spectacle of their friend. Apparently, Toph had not been presentable before. But she still looked very bad,

"Toph!" They both exclaimed, Sokka shortly following Aang to speech.

She jerked, and turned her head their way, but didn't move from her hunched position on the floor.

"What _happened _to you?" Aang whispered, shocked. He expected some witty reply, something along the lines of 'Gee, I wonder' or some sarcastic jibe as per usual. Instead, she just flinched, and a shudder ran down her back.

"We need to move her somewhere safe, where there's more water to heal her with." Katara said quietly. "She's got some pretty bad injuries- I don't have enough water with me. Not nearly enough. If we head to Gao Ling-"

"No!" Toph interrupted, voice still raspy, but now edged with the same hysteria she'd heard before. "No." She repeated, more quietly. She seemed to stare off into space. "Nowhere public. I don't...." She bit her lip. "No crowds."

Sokka and Aang exchanged a look of despaired horror. _What did they do to her?_

"We could take her to the southern air temple." Aang suggested softly. "It's close, and I do know it the best out of all of them." He waited for a response, and observed Toph as she gave a tiny nod.

"Alright then. Someone carry her. I may be stronger than the average girl, but I can't pick people up. Sokka, you do it." Normally, he might have protested, but showed no rebellion now. Carefully, all three rescuers maneuvered their injured comrade into Sokka's arms, where he carried her bridal style. Aang levitated Sokka and Toph down the trapdoor, since both were indisposed to descend it themselves, and then he led the way out with the recaptured candle, Katara following at the back. Occasionally, if the moving would brush any injured areas, Toph would make small whimpers of pain, not responding to the apologetic murmurs Sokka would fire off a second after. There was a heavy, depressing atmosphere over them all.

Sokka put Toph onto the earth after they left the building, hoping the renewal of her vibrations would be of some comfort to Toph. They were- she clutched at the grass almost desperately, breathing in the fresh air as if it were her last lifeline. "I can _feel._" She breathed. "All-wood- so long-" she broke off abruptly, merely sitting. She inspeacted the soles of her feet anxiously, even though she wouldn't be able to see anything. "My feet are hurt too."

Her voice- her scratchy, raw voice- was almost painful to hear. Every word, every glance in her direction was reminder of what they hadn't been in time to prevent. It was difficult to convince Toph to part with the ground, but not nearly as much as they'd expected. She'd become more meek, in just under two weeks. Aang helped her into Appa's saddle with soft gusts of Airbending, while the others observed cautiously from below in case anything went wrong.

Nothing did, and soon Toph was seated in the saddle, looking remarkably blank in expression. Automatically, out of habit, she reached for a handle and gripped it, then stilled. She sat like that, utterly unresponsive and unmoving, in an odd vigil which was more likely catatonia. Worriedly, the three took their places, Aang driving Appa into the air from his seat on the bison's great head.

"Toph." Katara spoke, nudging the girl softly. She broke from her reverie instantly, and flinched back from the contact.

"....Yeah?" She seemed so _small_ and _frail,_ it was all Katara could do to stop herself from getting up and yelling at Toph to _go back to normal._

"You okay? You looked a little....out of it...there."

Toph did not reply, and after a few minutes, fell again into her stillness.

The atmosphere failed to lift for the entire trip, and they rode in silence.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Well, here we are." Aang proclaimed with false cheer as Appa landed. The temple was just as empty as ever.

"How are we going to live here?" Sokka asked blandly. "Seriously look at it! I'd bet the water supply's blocked or something, since everything's dead."

"Well...." Aang bit his lip. "I'll just repair and dust out some of the rooms, then we can use those while I help make the temple more like it used to be. Come on, we'll get some rooms around mine. I know those best."

"Why?" Katara asked, out of simple curiosity.

Aang shrugged, then grinned a little. "I always sneaked out, and my friend's rooms were near mine....so...."

Katara chuckled, and Sokka lifted an eyebrow. "Right. Where are these rooms?" He appeared mildly irritable, but the glances he cast to Toph occasionally were enough to confirm he was just worried about her.

"Yeah. Follow me." Aang looked to Toph, who was crouching motionless on the ground, eyes half closed. A little unsteadily, with a bit of sway, she got to her feet and stood stiffly.

"Can you walk?" Katara asked.

Toph paused, then quietly, she replied. "Yes." It still cut through them like a dagger for her to sound like that.... She hesitated, then spoke again. "It _is_ all stone here, isn't it? I...can't really feel vibrations that well." She confessed.

"That because your feet are wounded. All things considering, I shouldn't even be letting you walk...but they'll heal. Aang? Is there just stone?"

"yeah, Pretty much." Aang shrugged. "This is a temple. They hauled giant rocks in and carved out of them. I think the Earthbenders helped with making it but I can't remember. This way." Nearly every step, Aang would find some flaw with the temple and fuss over it, Earthbending cracks away and mending pavements with the ability he'd learned from Toph herself- poor, broken Toph. When reaching a flight of stairs, katara drew the line and said in quite unchangable terms that Toph was _not_ allowed to climb them, full stop. Of course, Sokka was the one who carried her up them, as he'd sort of unofficially been assigned that job for whatever reasons.

Aang suddenly stopped walking, and sighed a little in nostalgia, before turning left into a room with _Aang_ inscribed on the rotting wood. He coughed a little and waved the others out. "Don't come in, I need to tidy my room. So dusty!" He airbended the dust into a pile, and with a technique learned long ago, swept it out of his window with the resulting gust of wind. Monk Gyatso had had a better use for it- sending cakes onto the heads of irate elders. "You can come in now, it won't suffocate you any more." Katara and Sokka entered, followed hesitantly by a teetering Toph.

"I expected it to be messier than this." Sokka commented, prodding Aang's blanket on the bed. "Is this fur?"

"Yeah. The bison shedded so much that they used it to make blankets. Bison fur doesn't rot, so it was always a pain to get rid of it otherwise. I'll go clear out the other rooms..." Aang zipped away, and Katara quietly herded Toph to sit on Aang's bed, not wanting her to remain standing longer than she had to.

"Hold out your arm, Toph. I may not have much water, but those wounds are too bad to go untreated." Katara commanded, trailing the water from her casket with a flick of her hand. With a glance of mild suspicion, Toph reluctantly obeyed, and tried to keep a steady expression while Katara's healing water ran over one of the wounds on her wrists. Watching from his seat on a chair by a desk, Sokka bit his lip, the sight of her wounds making pangs rip through him.

_I should have been there to protect her. _"Toph..." Toph's head twitched upwards a little.

"....Hm?"

"What's happened to you?" He saw her sit, seemingly unresponsive. "What..." he swallowed. "What did those bastards do to you that could make you change like this?" Toph flinched violently, causing Katara to look up and throw Sokka a scolding look, though she looked just as sad and curious.

"Sokka, don't agitate her. Is that any way to treat a friend who was only recently rescued?"

Sokka flinched a little himself, looking away with slight shame. "It's okay." Toph spoke quietly, and cleared her throat. "It's not- it wasn't his fault."

Katara hmphed, then returned to her work with her previous vigour. The wound was mending slowly- so very slowly- but no longer looked as bad. The swelling and infection was gone, and looked more of a clean wound now. "That feel better?"

Toph nodded slowly. "Thanks."

Katara swallowed. "That's all I can do for now. I _should_ have worked on that wound across your collarbone....but..." she shrugged, and flickered her eyes briefly over to Sokka for a second, before flicking them back just as quickly. Toph didn't catch it, naturally, but Sokka did, and understood that his presence had to do with how much flesh Toph was willing to expose.

"What's taking Aang so long? All he has to do is dust out a few rooms." Sokka huffed grumpily, glancing at Toph from the corner of his eye. _She should get some sleep. She looks like she needs it._

"And remove any personal artifacts of the previous owners." Katara reminded him, and suddenly Sokka understood.

These rooms weren't just rooms that one would stay in then leave- they were rooms that had belonged to people in the past, had been their own. People who had been Aang's friends, and now, were dead. He felt a lurch of pity for the Avatar.

They waited.

xxxxxxxx

Well, chapter two. You may have some guesses of what's been done to poor Toph. By the way, Toph's my favorite character. It's just interesting to my sadistic author mind to think about what could break a person as strong as her.

Just so you know, this will end happily. Well, as happily as such a story can, anyway.

For god's sake, REVIEW.


	3. Feral

_(when this began)_

_I had nothing to say_

_and I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me_

_(I was confused)_

_and I lived it all out to find that I'm not the only person with these things in mind_

_(inside of me)_

_but all that they can see is the words revealed_

_is the only real thing that I got left to feel_

_(nothing to lose)_

_just stuck hollow and alone_

_and the fault is my own and the fault is my own_

_-Somewhere I Belong, Linkin Park_

Aang re-emerged from nonexistence quite a while later, muddy and wet.

"Where the hell have _you_ been?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow at Aang's uncleanliness.

"I went to check on the lake." Aang explained. "You were right, all the rivers were blocked. Probably by the firebenders, ages ago. But because it was blocked, the rivers were practically streams, and the lake had overflowed tons of times. The ground around it was pretty much a bog." He wrinkled his nose. "And it stank. I just finished cleaning it, and taking the water from the mud. The waterfall wasn't running either, because its river had also been blocked. I unblocked that, and it's running just as clear and pretty as ever." He looked extremely pleased with himself.

Katara hugged him. "Thank god, here I was thinking we wouldn't have access to water for a day. Good job, Aang." The Airbender flushed a little, then brightened.

"Right, so I have your rooms fixed up now, and I started the boilers and the boilder heating system-"

"The what?" Sokka interrupted, and Toph shuffled a little to listen.

Aang blinked, then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I keep forgetting no one knows how to run this place....but yeah, there's a boiler that heats water for the baths, we keep it going with charcoal crystals from the fire nation. Coal that never burns out. And we used our own version- air amulets- to trap the air's power and circulate it through the temple and into the rooms. It's a very useful heating system. The oil lamps are only really for light, but they help too."

"The monks were really efficient." Katara commented, impressed.

Aang nodded vigourously. "They were. Katara, I'll need you to come to the lake and waterbend as much water as you can into the tank. Normally carrying it in buckets was a chore for the young monks....but, there aren't enough of those around anymore."

"Sure, Aang. Why don't you show us to our rooms, then I'll go." Aang nodded, and had opened his mouth to say something when Toph interrupted.

"When can I wash?"

Katara looked over in surprise, then raised her eyebrow at Aang. "Well, you can take a bath when the water's in and heated. There are showers, but no one really used them. The monks liked to relax."

"So may it be, but you can't have a bath until I heal your wounds more, Toph. The water will _hurt_, and it won't be good for your body." Toph looked for a moment like she might argue, then she sighed, and lowered her head a little.

"Alright."

"So, Toph's room is this way, and-" The group was led off by an unusually exuberant Aang. Katara supposed it must be lightening to see one's home be more like the home it was.

Toph's room was fairly large, with enough space for a few people to collabrate in, and the bed was of bison fur too. "Toph, get into bed." Katara ordered sternly, her voice leaving no room for arguments. "I'll come for a healing session once I have some water." Scowling a little, the injured girl made over to the bed, and unsteadily got into it. "The pillow side is on the right." She said helpfully.

Toph successfully found the pillow and shuffled herself under the covers. "Thanks." Her eyes widened a little. "Wow, it's....so soft." Aang chuckled a little.

"We'll be back, okay?" Toph didn't seem to hear him, she buried herself beneath the covers, as if trying to hide. Aang took that as a response and exited the room, walking a short distance to the next, directly beside Toph's room. "Right, so this is your room, Sokka."

The water tribe boy's eyes widened, and he looked around. It was plain- evidently having been stripped of all personal effects of the previous owner. Though not too small.

"By your bed the wall is really thin. Me and....the previous occupant could talk through it." The airbender gave him a meaningful look, and Sokka understoof, face breaking into a weary smile.

"Thanks, Aang." Katara looked upon the exchange silently, smiling slightly at the fact that her boyfriend wasn't as oblivious as she'd thought. Sokka stayed to unpack while Katara was led to her room, one opposite Toph's on the corridor.

"It overlooks the lake." He explained. "In case of an emergency, you can bend some through the window or something." Indeed, the moon was shining on the lake's water. It looked quite beautiful. Katara smiled softly.

"Nice view." She commented. "I suppose I should go get that mass amount of water you talked about, huh?"

"I'll come with you." Aang proclaimed. "You don't know the monastery that well. It's easy to get lost."

Later, the tanks were full of water, and a rather large basin of said water was being carried upstairs by Katara and Aang.

Aang was unexpectedly given the full task of carrying when Katara abandoned her duty to knock on Toph's door.

"We're coming in." She called, waiting a few seconds for any negative response before opening the door and holding it open for Aang, who stumbled painfully over and set it down on the floor. Toph was lying down, part slumped against the wall behind her bed, staring blankly at nothing and everything. "Toph." Katara attempted to get the girl out of whatever reverie she was in, and walked slowly towards her, nudging her lightly on the shoulder with one hand. The earthbender jolted abruptly, snapping from her trance and fixing her sightless eyes in Katara's general direction.

"....Katara?" The waterbender's heart twisted then- because not only was her voice soft and uncertain, but she had called her by her name.

Not Sugar Queen. Not like she always did. It had annoyed her at first, then she'd accepted it with exasperation. Now she missed it- because she needed something, any sign that Toph was still Toph. She hadn't changed. She was still her. The Blind Bandit. The Runaway. The unconquerable. She wouldn't- _couldn't_- accept that all of that was gone.

"Mmhm." She affirmed sadly. "I've come to heal you. Aang, if you would...?" the monk nodded, then left the room quietly, closing the door behind him. She observed the closed for a few more seconds, before depositing her bag on the ground. "I brought your fire nation clothes, since your old ones are a bit....well, torn."

Toph gave a small, stiff nod. Katara thought she saw the earthbender relax a little.

"Now, declothe. I need to get at that gash on your collar." Toph proceeded to stiffen a great deal, even a flash of fear suspended into her eyes for a moment. Pretending she wasn't disturbed, and hiding it masterfully, Katara put her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "Trust me, you haven't got anything I haven't seen before. We're all girls here."

Toph reached out to the stone wall, most likely feeling the vibrations of the room through it. She continued to watch Katara almost suspiciously, then she relented with a small frown. "'kay." She tore away her garments abruptly, with a sense of 'getting it over and done with'. Not rushed in the way that she was eager to be unclothed- most certainly not. Almost as if wanting to get through the action before she comprehended it.

Katara bended a large globule of water over to the girl, and began analysing her chest wound, as was the first procedure. She winced- there was some pretty nasty infection there. "This may take a while." Toph sat in strange silence, almost trepedation, as she was healed. Katara was not affected by the silence- she was heavily concentrated, frowning in her state of healing. Toph welcomed the silence, though it felt strange, because there had never been silence before.

It took roughly fifteen minutes to transform the messy, scabby gash to a half-healed and clean wound, at which time the waterbender switched her attentions to Toph's wrists, which she had not finished healing.

After they too were out of the danger stage and well on their way to safe recovery, Katara began work on the minor injuries, such as the rope burn around Toph's neck. She winced as she took in the details- it must have been a horrible experience. A rope had been twisted tight around the girl's neck, most likely frayed, and had been tisted until the flesh was raw. It had probably been some sort of intimidation tactic- suffocation was well known to instill panic in anyone.

Katara didn't know how many hours she was in there, healing the worst of the injuries then going back to go over them. There was significant damage to Toph's finger tissue, and had been very difficult to rectify. Hands were known among healers as the most difficult- there were so many nerves and patterns. After all the visible injuries were taken care of, and there was smooth unscarred skin again, she gathered an extremely large mass of water. Seeing Toph's questioning look, she explained. "This is to check for any internal damage. I'll be doing a scan of your entire body."

For some reason, this seemed to plaster Toph with a look of horror that left nearly as quickly as it came, leaving Katara to wonder if it had been there at all. One thing was for sure, Toph didn't seem particularly keen on this stage of the healing. Taking the silence as consent, Katara let the inspecting washes of her water wash over her patient.

At first, it was all clear. Nothing to worry about. No flesh or tissue damage, no internal bleeding.

She shouldn't have let herself think it could be that easy.

Feeling the shocking details wash into her knowledge, Katara froze, eyes widening. It was not that reaction that caught Toph's attention- it was the way her heart rate jumped. The survivor laid there, unsure and afraid, waiting for Katara to confirm her fears.

"_Toph,"_ Katara bit out, voice and expression awash with horror. "_What_ did they do to you?" There was so much damage- so much blood. God, it must be so painful. Would it ever heal?

The girl, sure that what Katara had discovered was accurate to her fears, began to react. Her eyes widened with impending panic, fear on the level of hysteria striking into them.

"Don't- you can't!" She blubbered, firing off several jerky rounds of nonsense, stopping momentarily as Katara made a shusshing sound.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't tell them!" She burst out, suddenly more clear, looking almost vindictive. She looked wild and lost. "Don't- whatever you do- _don't tell the others!_"

"Why not, Toph?" Katara probed gently. "Aren't they your friends? Shouldn't they have the right to know?"

"You can't!" Panic bubbled angrily in her chest, frothing into her wild eyes. "They- it wasn't- _It wasn't my fault! _I- wasn't- it isn't- _I didn't do anything!"_

"Calm down, Toph." Katara attempted to quiet the girl. "I know it wasn't your fault. You don't have control over the actions of others."

Toph nodded vigourously, eyes not any less animal than they'd been a second ago. "That's- it's true! Not my- never notwasn't-" She rambled incomprihensibly for a few seconds, then a vine of confusion weaved into her gait, suddenly she seemed disoriented somehow, but not any less panicked. "W-what am I talking about?! Nothing- _nothing happened! Nothing happened and I'm gonna be fine and I'll heal and- and-"_ She began sobbing, giant convulsions wracking her small body jerkily, they were dry at first, sounds and convulsions, sounds and convulsions. Then the tears flowed. She became stained with the very liquid that was Katara's art.

Unsure, afraid, Katara inched forwards with eyes wide. She attemped to provide comfort- a one armed hug, but Toph brushed it away violently.

"_Don't touch me!"_ She hissed, rage coiling in her eyes for a second like a fiery serpent, then it withered and died, leaving ashes of confusion. _What am I doing here?_ That sense of disorientation. She was confused between realities. Suddenly she seemed confused, so confused, and so worn down and sad. "Don't- stop it....._leave me alone!"_ Wondering if she was still in her delusion of locations, Katara waited and watched, heart beating rapidly. It became clear that something had been resolved, and Toph was unhappy, and she was focused on _her._ "Go away."

"But-"

"_Go."_

"Toph, I-"

"GO!" The girl had gone beyond, trapped in a confusion of identities, existence, and every memory in a chaotic matrix. She had regressed, and was now in a state of pure animal defensiveness. There was a threat. She wanted it gone.

Katara experienced turmoil for a moment, face carefully schooled on blankness on the surface. She knew that Toph _needed_ someone there, someone to help her and stay even while she tore into them with her feral fury. She knew that she would not be able to tell the others- as Toph had wished- because how could you tell someone something like _that?_ For a fairly long time, Katara would be the only person capable of giving that support- but she was too weak, too winded, too stricken. Selfishly, and like a coward, she bowed her head slightly.

"If that's what you want." Katara extracted the fire nation clothes from the bag and left them on the ground next to Toph's bed. "Here are your clothes. I'll be back in the morning."

Katara wasn't strong enough. She had fought wars and seen allies died and nearly lost her loved ones a hundred times over, but nothing could have prepared her for _this._ At the simplest, barest of truths, she was a child. And children weren't meant to be able to deal with their friends having such awful things done to them, children weren't meant to be able to stand in the path of a landslide and noot be knocked over.

She couldn't do this.

But she had to. Toph _needed _healing- emotional and physical. She needed to heal her.

So, like a coward, she left Toph to break behind her.


	4. Depravity

To: Bloodbender22  
The reason what happened to Toph isn't clear is because it isn't meant to be. You're supposed to have suspicions, and I keep you guessing. For a few chapters at least, it won't last very long. As for the water thing....I MAY have forgotten about that, but it can be explained: if all the water were to be pulled from the air (as it would be with the amount Katara needs) then the air would be dry and stick in your throat, certainly not good for a person in critical condition. the last thing she needs is trouble breathing, considering what she's been through.

_I can't escape this hell_

_So many times I've tried_

_But I'm still caged inside_

_Somebody help me through this nightmare_

_I can't control myself_

_-Animal I Have Become, Three Days Grace_

It was late. They should be sleeping- definitely. Katara had retreated, leaving Toph to her miasma of pain and confusion. She had dressed into her fire nation garb, because she didn't want to be exposed. Now she was alone, left with her traitorous mind and its whispers.

Nothing made sense. How could it? In reality, she was strong. She was unbreakble. Situations like this- where she was broken so thouroughly- were more the stuff of nightmares.

But there was no waking, no escape. This was a nightmare that hadn't ended, hadn't ceased, one that she couldn't wake away.

_Why is no one waking me?!_

It felt strange and unreal, this didn't happen. Such things were only heard of in horror stories- sadistic statistics, incentive to get a fight over with. incentive to be cautious. It seemed impossible- this happened to faceless people, faceless victims, they had no identity. But suddenly it was _her. She_ was in this situation. _She _was the faceless survivor who had sacrificed without any intention to.

_I never asked for this!_

She should have done something differently- (Shouldn't have drunk that tea, should have fought harder!) - and it _wouldn't have happened_. Just one different move- _one!_ And, gods, if there was nothing she could have done- because past was unchangeable- if doing something differently was just another 'what if?', _what had she done wrong?_ Was it her rudeness? Her defiance? The men she'd killed? Or simply bad karma?

_What's __**wrong**__with me?!_

Strange and unreal, _strange and unreal_. Couldn't happen. Never did. Not to her. She was unbreakable. Couldn't go down. Went on and on and on and-

_Why is there no blood?_

There was pain- pain, everywhere- not limited to where she was still injured. Tearing pang in her chest (did Katara heal the collar wound properly?), neck sore (she could still feel that rope), _couldn't breathe_ (Choking- gaspingscreamingcrying-).

_Why? I didn't- there isn't- I....I...._

She could feel it still- she was screaming, sobbingcryingwrithing. _There was no help._

_"No one is gonna save you."_

Horrible, putrid breath- _right there!_

_"I guess you're here to stay, hm?"_

A leer- she could _hear it, feel it_ even though there was only wood and she couldn't sense anything-

_"Why are you crying, little baby? You know no one will hear you. No one is going to come. It's just you, you and us. Some friends you have, eh? Can't even be bothered to rescue you."_

_They were wrong!_ Wrong- _wrongwrongwrong-_ they would come for her- they would save her- they went to every length to get their friends back!

_"Heh. I know what you're thinking. You don't believe me, do you? Well, think about it. Do you honestly think they could care about you? You're rude, you're violent. I certainly wouldn't want to be allied with you."_

No. _Shut it out!_ False. Lies- all false! They couldn't- it couldn't-

"_Admit it, tomboy. You're worthless, especially in their eyes. They're not coming to save you 'cause they're glad to be rid of you. You're all alone. You belong to me now."_

And she couldn't deny it- because hadn't she thought that before? Hadn't she sat and wondered if she was likeable in any way? Hadn't she had those nagging little doubts? Now, they were her downfall.

_There were tears. Tears and blood. She could taste the salt and the metallic tang, seeping into her mouth. She still screamed, and her throat was so raw that it seemed almost on fire. Then they started again- they choked her, she still screamed. They cut her, she still bled. They broke her, and she still cried._

Now, she writhed in her bed- reality ripped away into utter confusion and hysterical remembrance. _Throat ripped apart- blood and vomit churling from her mouth. _She remembered, she felt it again. Too torn to scream, too weak to resist, she was gripped again in the confines of scrambled memories, supressed chaotically so fragments arose to haunt her. Like before, she couldn't scream, so she cried just as violently. She soaked the covers with her tears. Giant, splitting sobs made her jolt and feel a fresh wave of nausea every second.

In the room beside, Sokka was in a state of half-sleep. Strange delusions- almost dreams, but not quite- clouding his mind.

There was someone crying in this dream.

_Sounds almost like Toph._

That helped him shake off his drowsiness a little, but the crying, if anything, got louder.

_It __**is**__ Toph._

That startling revelation brought back Aang's recent words. _"The wall is thin next to your bed."_ Aang had been capable of talking through it. Wide eyed, Sokka shook off all embrace of sleep and pressed his ear to the wall.

Toph was _crying._ He didn't even have the time to ponder on this, how unlike her it was, because an intense wave of protectiveness and a desire to comfort cut it short. He practically exploded from the room, veering into the next beside him, door thankfully not locked. That way he wouldn't have to break it down.

Toph was there- poor, broken little Toph- writhing and twisting in the covers, her cheeks were wet and her eyes clamped shut. Sounds of sobbing shuddered from her mouth unsuppressed, and she stained the pillow with her tears. She muttered incomprehensible sounds occasionally, and was more tense than he'd ever seen her. He rushed over, and planted himself swiftly next to her, almost desperate to _stop those tears._ They weren't right. Toph should never be unhappy.

Toph was clenched in the fold of her memory, reliving it with as much blood and pain as before. Only with the difference unknown to her that it was phantom pain, and the blood was a delusion. Then something was different. Abnormally different. Because no one had embraced her kindly.

She was snapped away from her delusion almost instantly, eyes flying open as she comprehended the new time, the new place. She was _safe._ They _did_ come for her. _Too late!_ Couldn't they see that she was broken? Couldn't they see that she was _changed forever?_! She flinched, brushing her fingers on the wall and taking in the added weight, the heartbeats, all the details that would be of identification. In the second before she recognized him, she shied away from the contact sharply, almost afraid when the mysterious invader persisted in his attempts to cuddle her. Then she realized who it was.

"S-Sokka?" She asked timidly, stilling where she sat, companion wrapping his arms around her.

"Yeah, it's me." He murmured back, voice heavy with sadness. He embraced her so that Toph's head was marginally resting on his shoulder, and pulled her close. "Oh, Toph. What have they done to you to make you cry like this?" Toph didn't reply, she merely broke again into sobbing so violent he could feel the tremors passing over her body. She cried into his shoulder, all the while he stroked her disheveled, matted hair comfortingly.

They stayed there for a while, into a night of tears and feather soft sorrow. Toph cried, and he remained there, providing the comfort he'd always wanted to give her, and that she now needed.

It was a unrecorded amount of time later that Toph's sobs quietended, her tears slowed, and gradually she slipped into the dark of sleep in his arms, face damp and sticky with the drying tears.

He didn't want to leave her alone, not after that. So he put her into bed, made a stop at his own room, then set up his sleeping bag and slept on Toph's floor.

Toph woke again in the night, eyes wild and her breath so heavy and uneven it woke him immediately. It led to another, but not as long, period of tears and moonlight, and comfort from one friend to another- and Sokka wondered if it was normal for 'just friends' to be so familiar, even in this manic situation. Even after all that had happened- and he still didn't know the extent of that- he wanted more. And it made him guilty- made him feel guilty and almost depraved, for feeding attention of a broken girl.

Neither person got much sleep that night, but Sokka didn't regret even a second of that lost sleep. Her emotions were more important than anything he had, or could lose.

Long into the day's dawn, Katara knocked softly then entered, certainly surprised by the fact that her brother was camping on Toph's floor. She nudged him with her foot, and was preparing to do so more forcefully when he shot awake, instantly alert. It was so unlike him that Katara was momentarily stunned. Her brother was tense for three more seconds, motionlessly observing the situation around him, then he relaxed and stood. "She cried in the night. She was having some kind of flashback when I found her. I didn't want to leave her alone." The sadness saturating his words couldn't compare to what he felt in his heart. "She woke up once that I know of; she was frenzied. Panicking about something." he shook his head ruefully. "I'm glad I was there."

"So am I. You're doing a great job, Sokka. Toph's closest to you, she'll need your help to get through this." Katara's eyes were distant, remembering what she'd learned the previous night. "Thank you for being there for her." The waterbender looked away guiltily. _I certainly wasn't._ "Can you stay here until she wakes up? I'll bring some breakfast."

"That's fine." Sokka allowed. "Thanks." He added, after a moment's thought. She nodded to him, and left.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"You have confirmed their location?" The man asked, not bothering to even look at the messenger.

"Y-yes commander." The servant gulped. "Sources saw the flying bison head to the southern mountain temple."

The 'commander' smirked, looking upon the tapestry of the fire insignia, only with a bright red background rather than blood red. "Good. We may be few in number, especially since the massacre those kids went on while rescuing my little friend, but it does not mean we cannot strike hard. We are too few, too inexperienced to fight masters of their trade. So we will strike at their heart and soul instead. There is work yet to be done on that girl."

"What are your orders, commander Bao?" The messenger asked nervously.

"Ready the war balloons, and tell the Bu Tong they have a mission. We may not walk from this alive, we may fall, but we will shake the foundations of their world before we do." Every line on the man's face was etched with cruelty. Flickers of sadism burned in his eyes. "Toph Beifong will learn she is not safe, even in a sanctuary. Even with her friends."

xxxxxxxxxx

Bao basically means cruel. Bu Tong translates to different/not the same/unlike.

The sadistic bugger is planning something. It'll make itself clear.


	5. Delerion

_Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk_

_Because of you I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt_

_Because of you I find to trust not only me but everyone around me_

_Because of you I am afraid._

_- Because of You, Kelly Clarkson _

It was not expected, not at all. When you rescue a person, and kill half of the perpetrators, you expect that to be the end of it. Sokka, Katara, Aang, and even Toph were under the impression that the ordeal was over and the only remaining obstacle was the overwhelming consequences.

They shouldn't have expected it to be that easy. After all, it never was.

xxxxxxxxx

"Toph?" Katara questioned softly.

"Mmh?"

"Can I come in? I need to heal you." Her voice wavered a little, personal pain renewed with the memory of exactly what she was healing, and surely how those injuries had gotten there.

"....Okay."

The waterbender entered, treading a lot more confidently than she felt, and deposited her smaller basin of water on the bedside table. "Thank you." She didn't need to ask the girl to lay down, she already was. She bended the water over the area of the wound, and focused. Healing internal damage was a lot harder, as it went past what you could see and where the water could reach. So, in the barest details, it was a combination of waterbending and bloodbending, using the water as a cover and the blood as the liquid that would heal.

Toph's expression was extremely inconsistent, it wavered and twitched everywhere. It was to be expected though, such healing must have a very uncomfortable feeling. She was completely silent, and seemed to like it that way. Roughly twenty minutes into the treatment, Katara sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow, feeling suddenly exhausted. The level of concentration she'd been using was tiring, very tiring. She stepped back and returned the water to the pail. "It should be fine now, Toph."

"...Thanks." her voice was quiet, subdued. It was Toph's voice, unmistakably, but to hear it like that was so foreign, so different.

"You're welcome." Katara sighed. "Are you hungry? I can get you some lunch, if you'd like."

"No. 'll sleep." The girl murmured, turning over.

"Tired?" Katara questioned sympathetically.

"Mmhm." Toph affirmed.

"Why? It's barely the afternoon."

Toph stilled, and tensed a little. "....They didn't let me sleep." She confessed eventually, sounding unbearably weary and weatherworn. "When they'd leave me alone....I'd try to get to sleep....and whenever I dropped off...they'd just wake me up again." Her expression trembled at this.

Katara had suspicions about that wavering, and asked. "How did they wake you? Just shake you awake, or what?"

Toph jolted suddenly, confirming Katara's thoughts. However they'd done it, it hadn't been pleasant. "Sometimes..." She whispered, voice tight and choked. "Sometimes I'd shock awake, and they'd have a blade in my skin. Sometimes they b-burned me awake.....sometimes they-" She broke off, and her voice cracked, horror seeping into her expression. "They....and I never got sleep....I was so tired! They-" She stopped speaking, odd spasms shaking her body. She curled up, clutching her knees.

"Oh Toph...." Katara sighed sympathetically, gliding over and encasing the girl in a timid hug. She could _feel_ the muscles tensing at the touch, then waveringly Toph relaxed and then did nothing, allowing herself to be embraced while silent tears streamed steadily down her cheeks.

In the semblance of an assured older sister or mother, Katara rocked the broken girl in her arms, murmuring comfortingly, hoping to ease the suffering while she herself felt like crying too.

For a second, the bending mistress felt an unbearable wash of despair. It was unbelievable, inconceivable that this was all happening. That Toph was broken, and nothing would ever be the same again. Things like the earthbender had been through left scars, more severe mentally than physically.

Katara almost lost her composure and broke down, but she clung to her pitiful semblance of control near desperately, determined to believe that not everything had change. There was still hope for salvation.

But scars.... some scars never went away.

xxxxxxxxxx

All three companions had to find a way with dealing with the whole mess. Something to distract them, tempt them away from the agonizing reality of what was real and existing. In Aang's case, it was half-hearted attempts to slowly return the temple to its former glory. Katara holed away in the nomad's extensive library reading up on psychological texts that could help, like the articles on post traumatic stress disorder and catatonia and other such consequential things that might help in some way. Mostly, in the case of some writings, it only sent pangs of pain into her heart, because the symptoms in them were _so_ eerily accurate to Toph's, and it hurt so badly to know what could have caused those horrid insanities.

Sokka's pathetic semblance of coping was a lot more healthy than the others', but a lot more destructive. Rather than blocking out and distracting himself, he holed up in Toph's room, sitting at the desk in there and dreaming up endless ways of how he could have prevented her abductions. When she woke up, wild-eyed and hysterical, he was _there_ to comfort her. It was all he could do not to cry with her, and stay sadly sympathetic as he waited for her sobs to lessen. She seemed so lost- _so _confused after her episodes. She shook and trembled something awful, disoriented and not seeming to know where she was.

He'd try to help her and he'd murmur over and over that she was safe and he was there. It was always difficult, so hard to tone out his endless loop of reassurances to her until she came to; shuddering and raggedly thanking him before attempting to get to sleep again.

The hours went on; Katara would bring meals (Toph never seemed to eat much...) as she visited and Aang would drop in occasionally, never when Toph was awake it seemed. He'd quietly summarize some of her episodes, and they'd share pathetic little moments of mutual sadness before they'd leave again. When the meals came, Sokka would wait until the ending of the next of Toph's wakings to give her them. They were eerily common, occuring every four hours at the best. When finally it drew dark, Sokka would flop into his sleeping bag and drop off with dark thoughts on his mind. Toph woke as often in the night as in the day. Around every three 'fits' Toph had, she'd request to go have a shower. Sokka reasoned it to remembering all the blood, and supposing you would want to wash if you were covered in blood. He didn't want to think about what else it could mean.

The air temple showers were efficient, but different. There was a tank that the water went into, and a high pressure hose thing to that, and at the end was the shower with a slide covering the holed, that would be removed while showering. They were a little fiddly, to be honest. After escorting her to the bathrooms Sokka would call for Katara, since she could help Toph. The waterbender seemed to find nothing odd about Toph's near obsessive showering.

The unhealthy schedule continued for a few days, and it was having its effects on the warrior. He was getting tired and jumpy, sometimes his voice would crack when he spoke to Aang and Katara. Exhaustion weighed on him and he could easily pity Toph's situation. If she felt that tired all the time.... he shuddered.

As it went on, Sokka began sleeping in the day quite a lot too. On some sort of internal alarm he'd systematically wake up a few hours before Katara would report for a meal, but occasionally Aang dropped in and woke him from his restless sleep. In those hours his thoughts would develop to intrusive, so painful that he did not want to consider them. His mind dreamed up possibilities of what could have happened to Toph, and he didn't want to even consider them possible.

With such a horrible, arduous schedule, he was on his way to unrefutable breakdown at godspeed. Toph seemed less tired, her fits were a little shorter, but it still compressed him with the weight of it all.

He hadn't seen the sunlight for days. The window had been covered to help Toph sleep better, without the phantom light and the noise of outside. Sokka was secluded and he was beginning to feel truly terrible.

After around a week of the endless ordeal, he was tired. Toph was worth it, so worth it, worth more than his own happiness....but soon, he wouldn't be much help to anyone. He needed a break, however short. So he left the tortuous room, venturing to the outside.

He was amazed at how much it had changed. The weeds were gone, the buildings repaired, and the land was starting to live again. Aang had apparently been working on the plant life, and with that, some of the animal population was returning. Either that, or breeding eerily quickly.

He felt almost lightened, but then slightly angry. It was beautiful, it was wonderful that Aang's temple was alive. But it was too cheerful, too happy. The world felt dark, and it didn't seem right for anything to defy that so openly with such infuriating liveliness. Sokka found it hard to walk, probably as a consequence of not walking more than a meter for seven days. He was stiff, and stumbled everywhere. It was as if he would collapse at any second. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, he planted himself by a river, attempting to find some calm in its quiet tide.

Then there were footsteps behind him, light but heavier than Aang's. Obviously not Toph. "Hi, Katara." He toned blankly, not turning to look at her. She lowered herself beside him with a strained smile and pain in her eyes.

"Are you okay? I mean....all of this..." She shook her head.

"I'm fine." Sokka said shortly. Katara sent him a clearly sceptical look.

"Sokka, I'm not stupid. It's normal to be stressed what with everything that's happened...." She dropped the fake smile. It was worthless anyway.

The warrior found himself irritated. "Of course I'm stressed!" he snapped. "Don't pretend you're not, too!"

She recoiled in her flinch. "I never said I wasn't." She whispered, almost defensively. She stared at him. "Sokka....you look so tired."

He buried his face in his hands. "I _am_ tired." He droned wearily. "I can understand why Toph isn't recovering if _she_ feels so exhausted....I'm not getting nearly enough sleep, neither is she, and all the while there's time for my dark thoughts to creep up on me." He gave a snort, cold of humor. "I can't stop thinking about _what_ might have happened to her, and I don't want to even _consider_ those conclusions..." His voice was a strangled hiss, thin and scratchy from weariness an stress.

"...I know how you feel in that regard." Katara sighed. "You know, maybe I should go into town to get some sleep medication. It's not good to use frequently, because you can get dependent on it, but just so that you two can recover your sleep again." Then, suddenly, her eyes widened and she gasped. She muttered a curse, loudly.

"What?" Sokka asked, alarmed.

"We still haven't told her parents we've rescued her! They must be worried out of their minds."

"....Maybe you should go to Gao Lin, get supplies there, and visit her parents while you're at it." He suggested.

She nodded dejectedly, obviously wondering what she would say. "I'll do that tommorow, then."

He nodded curtly, then glanced at the temple. "I'd better get back to Toph."

"....Yeah. I'll see you later."

"Hm."

Katara watched, depression over her like a black cloud, as her brother walked away.

xxxxxxx

The reason I haven't updated for a while is because I wanted to do a big update of lots of my stories.


	6. Alert

After much consideration, I have decided to mark Even the Strongest for **rewrite.**

I like the idea, and the plot, but not how it turned out. As a result, A new and improved version will be worked on and hopefully lengthened. For this story, the same base idea will be there, and the same themes and sequence of events, but the sentence structure/writing style/realism/fluency will be better. You know, the sort of things that inspire an author to either delete of rewrite his/her story.

I do, however, have a life, and other fanfictions which claim much more interest than I can offer this story. Because of this, updates will be few and far inbetween, but hopefully an improvement on removal. If coursework/homework/GSCE school in general has me feeling particularly depressed, then I'll see if I can funnel it into the write place, kay? :D

I've put out a _lot_ of alerts today. Eight of my stories will be deleted, four rewritten, and that leaves a grand total of three that remain as they are. Alerts have been sent out for all of them, and an overview is in my profile. As you can probably tell, I'm performing a rather thorough and strict fanfiction clearout. It's time for the next generation of Darktayle's fanfictions to commence.

Hopefully, no one is overly dismayed by this, and will watch for the second version of Even the Strongest.

Darktayle


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